


Through the Thorns

by QuietArtemis



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Breaking Up & Making Up, Forced Pregnancy, M/M, Mentions of Abortion, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Self-Harm, forced sex change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 13:57:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19021342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietArtemis/pseuds/QuietArtemis
Summary: Something terrible happens and Percival blames himself for it.





	Through the Thorns

Percival liked to go for a drink or two occasionally, after a hard day of work. He always informed his boyfriend, Newt, where he was and that he’d be home in an hour or two. It was such an occasion that day. He fire-called his lover and informed him he’d visit a speakeasy on his way home and invited Newt to join him there. Scamander said he couldn’t be there immediately, but he’d come in about an hour once he finishes up taking care of his creatures for the day. Percival nodded and went to the speakeasy.

First drink was fine, but by the second one he realized something was off. His body was aching and his head was spinning. Percival landed hard on the floor, writhing in pain, but nobody helped him. A group of men and women leered at him instead. He must’ve passed out because once his head felt clearer, he realized he’s in a different room. Various hands touched his body all over. Someone was fucking his mouth and another person was between his legs.

It took him a moment to realize he’s not male, but female. 

Percival wanted to scream but the man in his mouth fucked his mouth hard. The other guy was violating his very aching cunt. Graves’ body was on fire, leaning into the touches, but his mind was very much clear and calling for Newt.

The guy in his mouth finally came, cumming down his throat and making him swallow, praising him for being a good bitch.

“No! No! N-Newt! I want Newt!” Percival cried out in oddly high-pitched voice. Tears ran down his cheeks and he sobbed hard. The stranger in his cunt and the others laughed.

“The whore calls for her lover and yet, wants us!” the unknown laughed, fucking Percival harder, making him squeal. “Let’s leave them both something to remember us by…”

“No! No! Not inside! Only Newt! N-NO!” Percival screamed, trying to pull away, but his body refused. The aphrodisiac was designed to make him ache for touch. He moaned as rough hands touched his surprisingly large breasts. The man between his legs chuckled again and came inside him anyways.

“Trust me, darling. We’ve had you so many times over that it wouldn’t really make a difference,” he said and pulled away.

More people came over. Percival was violated by men and women alike, in every way possible. No one listened to his pleas. His own body betrayed him, giving into the pleasure and touches. He wanted to die, then and there, for betraying his boyfriend so horrendously.

Finally, the door opened and through his tears, he saw Newt.

“Newt! Newt! Please, help me!” he begged, sobbing. “I don’t want them! They forced me! Please, help!”

It visibly took a moment for Newt to realize what was going on. Percival wasn’t that difficult to recognize with his haircut and prominent eyebrows. Tear-stained, reddened face looked softer and the muscular body was also more womanly, but his beauty marks and scars matched. A fury washed over the usually innocent-looking Scamander. He didn’t wait a second to fire vicious spells at people who raped his lover.

Wizards and witches quickly escaped the room, but almost none got unharmed. Meanwhile, Percival was still on the ground, crying his eyes out.

“I’m so sorry… I didn’t know. I didn’t want this! My body betrayed me… I begged them to stop but they wouldn’t,” he sobbed, leaning into Newt’s comforting touch. It seemed whatever they doused him with didn’t wear off yet, because Percival was still yearning for more. Newt gave him what he needed, without a trace of disgust touching his ruined, deformed body. Scamander reclaimed what was his with gentle touches and sweet kisses Percival knew he no longer deserved.

 

Once they were home, Newt helped him to the bath. Percival didn’t change back yet and he dreaded this change would last longer than he thought. Even though he was clean now, he still felt dirty, still could smell the people who came inside him and over him, their scents clinging to him.

“I didn’t want this,” he whispered again, sitting numbly on the edge of their bed. Newt looked at him worriedly and reached to comfort him, but Percival shied away from the touch.

“I know you didn’t, Percy,” the magizoologist whispered, sitting by his lover and in safe distance for Graves.

“And yet, my body… My body did,” Percival said, feeling stupid tears run down his cheeks again. “I betrayed you. I betrayed me and everything I value in a relationship.”

“No, you didn’t.” Newt said calmly, taking Percival’s hand in his own. “It was a drug. An aphrodisiac. It was supposed to do what it did. Whoever’s behind this, they wanted to make you feel the way yo do now. I’m not mad at you, Percy. It was a proof to me that despite the drug you still called for me and only me. You never betrayed me.”

Graves just shook his head.

“I dread that it was meant to… to humiliate me. To make me a woman and get me with one of those stranger’s child and ruin my reputation. I still feel like I cheated on you. Like I betrayed you. My body wouldn’t stop leaning into their touches, letting them fuck me. My mind was screaming and I was screaming, but I couldn’t control myself. I don’t deserve you anymore. I’m breaking up with you. Out of respect for you. You shouldn’t be with… with someone like me.”

“What?!” Newt frowned. “We’re not breaking up! And the child could be mine, if there is any. Besides, you don’t have to keep it if you don't want it.”

Percival shook his head again, crying into his hands.

“Percy, give yourself time. You went through something horrible just hours ago and you’re not making reasonable decisions.”

“I made my decision. I’m disgusting and I did the one thing that I always say was my hard limit, even though it wasn’t… it wasn’t my will to do so.”

“This isn’t over,” Newt promised, semi-worried and semi-irritated as he walked out of the bedroom.

 

It was over though, it seemed. In two months, Percival didn’t approach him once. They didn’t talk at all and Newt hurt from the inside. Graves was clearly in pain, tearing himself apart over what happened, but didn’t accept help from anyone. His body remained female and it was cursed to be that way until he gave birth. No abortion techniques worked. The magic was too strong and protected the baby viciously.

Tina was now closer to him than ever, and it wasn’t a surprise when they started dating couple of weeks later.

Percival never said anything, avoiding the both of them. Newt could swear he felt Graves’ eyes on him.

It was hard to ignore.

Tina was sweet and gentle, so very unlike Percival. She kissed and made love sweetly. Newt tried his best not to think about his ex-lover, but couldn’t. Queenie looked beyond uncomfortable, undoubtedly hearing all the thoughts he had, and perhaps Percival’s as well. She never addressed the issue, but he knew it was there.

At one point Newt wanted to break up with the older Goldstein but on the very same day, she announced she’s pregnant. Newt took it as well as he could, smiling awkwardly which seemed to be enough for her. She was overjoyed to have a family with him.

The magizoologist wished he shared her enthusiasm. 

“If you’re gonna be that miserable your entire future life, just please, break up with my sister. You will make her as miserable as you feel,” Queenie said sharply one evening when Tina was on the case.

Newt opened and closed his mouth, unsure what to say to this.

“Many women raise children alone,” she shrugged. “No one wants to be tied to someone who doesn’t love them, not in the way they deserve.”

“I love her, though,” he protested weakly.

“You do. And yet, when it really comes down to it, she’s not your number one and she should be,” Queenie pointed out.

“It’s… it’s such a mess,” Newt cringed and his friend nodded.

 

It hurt. It hurt so much to see Newt moving on and dating Tina. Percival was still stuck in his personal hell and it wasn’t making it easier for him. His heart was breaking every time he saw the couple kissing or holding hands, or being generally all lovey-dovey with one another.

Graves kept silent about the wounds of his heart.

He kept silent about many things.

He watched his stomach grow and he watch more scars appear on his body. Percival hated his form, hated this traitorous bag of meat, so he cut it every night to give it a good punishment for ruining what he had.

Some nights he hated himself so much it made him throw up.

No one approached him about his mood and he was thankful for that. He didn’t want to explain himself and he didn’t want pity. He also didn’t want to get help because he didn’t deserve it.

His brief sense of privacy was over once Seraphina gave him orders to go and see a mind healer.

The sessions didn’t go well. The kind, elderly lady had the patience of a saint as Percival screamed, cried and raged on, all at once. By the end of each session he was mentally and physically exhausted.

Percival was also made to go and see healers about his pregnancy. The baby just refused to be terminated - their magic was powerful and the magical barrier the drug created kept it protected. Since getting rid of it wasn’t an option, Graves decided to keep the baby healthy instead. Maybe the gods were up to something good for once?

When Tina announced pregnancy at the office, Percival wanted to vomit. It was truly over between him and Newt, wasn’t it? The magizoologist was loyal and wouldn’t leave her and their child.

All hopes he quietly let himself have, blinked out of existence.

Graves knew how fucked up was what he was doing. He cut himself wherever he could, crying all the while. He wished he would finally fucking die, but he didn’t. Every day was painful, every night full of night terrors of what had happened that day.

His mind healer reassured him a million times what had happened wasn’t his fault.

Why did he feel so guilty all the time, then?

 

One day, Percival ran into some criminals who fucked him up worse than he ever could have done to himself. Graves laughed as they cursed, kicked and beat him and then some more when aurors brought him to the hospital. A broken laugh of a man who lost his mind. It echoed in their heads and in his own.

He woke up to the most awkward situation and immediately regretted opening his eyes. Above him, hovered Newt, Queenie and Tina.

“Leave me the fuck alone,” he slurred, tongue heavy in his mouth. There was no way this scene wouldn’t escalate into more awkwardness, so the least Percival could do was to get angry and send them off.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Tina said defiantly, glaring down at him.

“I said: Leave. Me. Alone!” he screamed, but it seemed to have no effect on her.

“No!” the older Goldstein answered, crossing her arms on her chest. Percival noticed her slightly swollen stomach and couldn’t escape the bitter taste in his mouth. The baby he was forced to carry was most likely one of those people’s, not Newt’s. “You’re hurting my friend!”

Friend? What the actual fuck?

“I’m not hurting anybody! You come here, uninvited and expect a nice welcome? Fuck off. Get the hell out of here before I get you fired!” he snarled. Newt’s hand forced him to lay back down.

“Percival, stop it before you hurt yourself,” Scamander said in soft, yet demanding tone.

“Who the fuck cares?” Graves shrugged angrily. “It’s my own business what I do. If I hurt myself then it’s my choice. Now,  _ leave _ .”

“For how long are you going to keep punishing yourself, Percy?” Newt asked with such brokennes, it made Percival’s heart stop for a second. “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t choose to have those people force themselves on you. It wasn’t your choice to drink that horrible potion…”

“No…” Percival admitted. “But then I did some things out of my own volition that I will regret for as long as I live.”

It didn’t take a genius to know what he meant. There was a moment of heavy silence between them.

“Please. Please, leave,” he breathed, feeling to vulnerable and tired to deal with this. Graves just wanted to sleep for a day or five and wake up to realize this is all just a nightmare.

“Let’s go,” Queenie whispered, sensing Percival’s mood. Tina sighed and followed her sister. Newt stayed behind for a moment and walked away.

Graves fell asleep soon, but he was plagued by nightmares the entire night.

 

“I think I love her,” was the first thing Percival heard, opening his eyes. None other than Newt sat in the chair by his side.

“Well, congratulations are in order I hear,” Graves said, as politely as he could, swallowing every drop of bitterness and jealousy threatening to spill out of his mouth.

“Thanks,” Newt said with quick smile. It was gone as soon as it came. “We’re good as boyfriend and girlfriend, I think. We work well together.”

“Do you need a blessing or something?” Percival snapped, regretting his words as soon as they left his mouth. “Why are you telling me all this?”

Newt snorted, amused but not offended for some unfathomable reason.

“As I said, she and I are good as boyfriend and girlfriend. But you and I? We’d be a great married couple.”

“I’m not doing polyamorous relationships. I told you that before. Whatever she put you up to, I’m not into. Thanks.”

Newt laughed like it was the best joke he heard in ages.

“I’m not asking you that, silly!” the magizoologist said, amused.

“Then what the hell do you want from me?” Percival sighed, not feeling the humor at all. All he felt was sadness and heavy weight of his own decisions. Newt saw his expression and felt bad for teasing the other like that.

“I want you to pull your head out of your own ass and come back to me. She and I are not together. I admit, we dated and it was fun, but Tina isn’t what I need. I need you.” Newt said, smiling softly.

“What about the child?” he asked softly. 

“Turns out it’s not mine. She conceived before I came along. Yes, she knows whose it is and he will take the responsibility.” the magizoologist explained before Percival had a chance to ask. “We broke up and now they’re figuring things out between them. I think they will make a good couple.”

“And if it was yours? What then?”

“I’d… I’d date her for a month or two, maybe? But I wouldn’t marry her. I would do my best to be in that child’s life, but not as Tina’s husband,” Newt explained. “It’d be miserable for all of us if I married her. I still love you and always will. I do love her, but not the way she deserves. You hold the special place in my heart. I know I will never love someone else the same way as I do you.”

Percival hummed, unsure how to react to all of this.

“We’re a mess, Newt. I’m a mess,” he confessed quietly.

“I know,” Scamander whispered, trying to smile through tears. “I also know what you did. I was still your contact and the mediwizards told me everything.”

_ Well, fuck, _ Graves thought.

“I’m in therapy,” he said. “It’s not going well.”

“It will get better. I will help you through it, if you let me,” Newt offered, wiping the tears away and taking Percival’s hand in his own.

“It will be ugly.” Graves sighed.

“I know.”

“I’m still a woman.”

“I know.”

“I still hate myself.”

“I know, but we will work on this.”

“The baby I carry might not be yours either.”

“It will be mine. Blood or not, this will be my child that I will proudly raise by your side.”

Percival laughed softly.

“You’re as bull-headed as always.”

“I was not as bull-headed as I should’ve been that night. I should’ve tried more to approach you, be there for you. And I most certainly shouldn’t have dated Tina and rubbed salt in your wounds.” Newt said, ashamed.

“I broke up with you and I avoided you for weeks. I was jealous, but at the same time, I knew I was to blame for this. You just wanted to be happy and move on. I don’t begrudge you for that.”

“It was way too soon, though. I should’ve handled it better.”

There was a long moment of silence between them, neither one knowing what to say.

“Come here,” Percival said, pulling Newt closer to him. Hesitantly, Scamander raised from his seat and leaned over Graves. The director gently pulled him down for a kiss - a sweet and short one, but loving and promising.

“Never let me make you leave again,” Percival whispered. 

“I promise I will kiss your ass if you try,” Newt solemnly swore and they both laughed.

 

Things weren’t easy and their relationship had its ups and downs. Getting back together helped, but neither of them thought it would be some magical cure. Percival still had some bad days and some worse days, but there were good ones too.

The birth was hard. Percival cursed so much, Newt felt almost embarrassed to even listen to such filth coming from his lover, but none of the medical staff cared. That day, Graves gave birth to their baby daughter - Luna. She was the sweetest thing with dark eyes and bright red hair. Percival and Newt fell in love with her as soon as they saw her face.

She looked like a mix of the two of them and so they accepted it is as the truth. They didn’t test for parentage but promised they would if she asks for it in the future.

 

In the beginning of autumn of the next, when Luna was eighteen months old, Percival and Newt married. It was a beautiful, warm day. The garden was still green but with yellows and reds tinting the leaves. They bought a new house, starting the new chapter of their lives away from the old one. Percival made so much progress from the dark place he was in over a year before, Newt couldn’t help but be proud. He was also proud of himself that he came back to Percival. Scamander hesitated at the beginning, but now he was certain it was the best decision he ever made, watching his husband and daughter laughing and swaying to music. Tina and her fiance were also quite happy, barely looking at anyone else but their child and each other.

“Stop staring at her so much or you might make me feel jealous,” Percival growled in his groom’s ear, playfully. Newt snorted and smacked him in the head.

“You’re always jealous,” the magizoologist chuckled. “...and possessive.”

“What can I say? My husband is a catch.” Percival shrugged unapologetically, grinning. “Besides, you like it when I’m possessive.”

“You’ve got me there.”

“So, what were you thinking about so much? Any regrets?”

Newt shook his head, sighing and smiling.

“No. Not a single one. You?”

Percival looked at his husband like he’s absolutely crazy, and smiled.

“Are you kidding me? No regrets here. I’m overjoyed to be married to you. And while I hate what they did to me, we have a child. I regret it happened the way it did, but I don’t regret having her.”

“Want to try for another?” Newt asked, wagging his eyebrows. “On our terms, this time.”

“Only if you carry it,” Percival snorted. “I’m not giving my dick away now that I finally have it back.”

“If you think I’d argue, then you’re crazy,” Newt grinned.

“Taking kink to the whole new level, aren’t you?” Graves chuckled. “We will see about this.”

They did. And had five more children. And against all odds, they lived the best life they could imagine. Not a spotless, troubleless one, but a truly happy one nonetheless.


End file.
